


Helpless and Falling

by knees_ofbees



Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, My First Work, Original Characters - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Recovery, Slow Burn, might be a little incoherent, some really random scenes eventually, this may take a while to finish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-19 07:04:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19351900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knees_ofbees/pseuds/knees_ofbees
Summary: Vendettas! Symbolism! Villainous!After a strange client calls to eliminate a threat, Blackhat’s three employees are sent to find and eliminate said threat. However, Flug simultaneously destroys one threat and causes another, and yet another tragedy is set in motion.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story will have dark points and some mentions of gore. I will leave notes/warnings of unpleasant things at the beginning of the chapter.

Everything had slowly began to crumble and fall apart. It was like an illusion beginning to disappear before one’s eyes. If a single thing went wrong, it could cost a life. It was just like the butterfly effect, or like a ball rolling down a hill. Only one small shove and everything comes down to crush you.

However this was just for one person, this impending doom was not applied for everyone. Well, maybe for two. 

Flug had woken up at the usual time, only vaguely remembering the dreams from last night. He peeled himself out of bed, and trudged over to his closet to change to the outfit he would always wear. Flug adjusted his goggles and the paper bag on his head. 

He sighed. He couldn’t even remember the times when he didn’t feel tired, and so grossly sleep deprived. Flug’s gotten so used to the bitter taste of coffee, he hardly notices it anymore. He just drinks it for the caffeine. For energy drinks, it’s the same—he doesn’t even notice whatever flavor a can is labeled with, he just drinks it so he can stay up as late as possible.

Flug walked over to his office. As he was reaching for the clipboard labeled, “Morning Schedule,” he just blanked out. He’s been in this routine so often, he doesn’t really remember anything different. He’s gotten comfortable with just doing the same, mundane tasks every day. Some tasks weren’t always mundane, but it was just a lot of sameness. Flug just didn’t have a lot to look forwards to.

He woke up 5.0.5, probably one of the easiest tasks he’d perform that day. Just a simple pat on the head, or a name call and the bear was up and ready to go. 5.0.5 was told to deep clean Flug’s lab, his room, and Blackhat’s room. 

At the time when Flug normally feeds Demencia, he was called to Blackhat's office early that day.

The doctor greeted his boss with, "Good morning, Lord Blackhat."

The greeting was followed by an unusual, "Flug, a client has called to eliminate a threat."

Flug noticed the client standing behind Blackhat’s desk. He was male, and much taller than Flug, but still shorter than Blackhat himself. The client had a strong build, and looked as if he could snap Flug in half. He had brown hair that had obviously been styled with gel. He was wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt and had a grey backpack on. He was wearing black pants, and had on grey shoes. 

He had walked out from behind Blackhat's desk and put out a hand for Flug to shake. "The name’s Alister Grey. I've paid your boss very well," he stated, all while shaking his hand. Suddenly, he grabbed Flug by his shirt, and Alister pulled Flug towards him.

"So you better not mess this up," they harshly whispered. They quickly shoved Flug away, and went back behind Blackhat's desk.

Fear was beginning to brew in his mind. "Well...is there any way to identify your target?" Flug asked. He was growing suspicious of this mission already; were they being hired as hitmen?

Alister smirked. "Well, she looks like me, just a girl. And short. She has two scars-one near her lip and another one going across her left eye and eyebrow. Brown hair, wearing overalls. She has a red backpack on. When you see her, just kill her. She may put up a fight. Just so you know."

No one could see it, but the expression on Flug's face darkened. He hasn't directly killed anyone before, but he didn't want this to be the first time. "Weapons should be brought along with us then-"

The client began to walk away and leave the room. "Yes, bring weapons," Alister said, practically barking his order to Flug. 

When leaving the room, he bumped Flug by his shoulder. Alister was one step out the door when he made his final statement. "Oh, and another request-make her suffer." And with that, the client left the room, and shut the door behind him.

Both Blackhat and Flug were left in silence. Flug was left in a state of shock, and his mind began to spiral down a list of potential ways this mission could go. At the same time however, he began to picture who this threat was. An actual monster? Or was it just an innocent civilian? Could this be an actual-

"Flug," Blackhat spat out at his employee. "What are you waiting for? Complete the mission for this...strange man." He had not expressed it, but the interaction between Alister and Blackhat was unpleasant for both parties.

Alister Grey was cheap, and an obvious con man. He had never stated his true motives to Blackhat, but the man could tell what Alister was trying to complete. Blackhat noticed that the name on the soul contract did not correlate with the name given. It would come back to bite Alister in the ass later—the eldritch horror couldn’t wait to see it. 

Flug opened his mouth to answer his boss, but no sound came out. His hands were shaking, but he still took a deep breath in, and attempted to speak. "L-lord B-blackhat, I a-am e-extremely uncomfortable with...with k-killing someone."

Panic had already been building up in Flug’s mind even since he was called to Blackhat’s office. Him stuttering meant he wasn’t in a proper state of mind, or something just fucked up in his brain. 

Blackhat had barely reacted, so Flug continued to ramble on. "C-can we just-just bring t-them b-back here? O-only i-if they're use-useful."

Blackhat had raised an eyebrow and leaned back into his chair. Flug still continued on saying, "I-if th-they a-aren't useful, I-I'll...I'll k-kill t-them m-myself." He finished his speech by standing straight up, and clenching his hands to make fists. Fists that were still trembling in fear.

His replies to Blackhat were barely coherent. He was stuttering on nearly every word, and was tripping all over his sentences. 

But still, Blackhat could understand and made his response. "I am intrigued by your...offer, Doctor. It still amazes me that even after working for me for so long, you still have human emotions."

Flug braced himself for the worst to happen. If Blackhat didn't accept the offer, he would probably have Demencia kill the target. Yes, he still may feel guilt, but he wouldn't have directly killed someone.

Although only a few seconds had passed, it had felt like ages to Flug when Blackhat had finally spoken again. "However, I am still curious on where this may lead for the future if this target of ours is useful. And if they aren't..."

Flug felt a rough, and almost crushing feeling across his shoulders. In an ice-cold, almost dead tone, he heard, "I will make sure you follow through on taking care of the target."

The feeling soon left, and Flug found himself running out of Blackhat's office to grab weapons, Demencia, and 5.0.5 to find, and capture the mystery target.


	2. Fly Away

"Just be on the lookout for...her, okay?" Flug had told Demencia and 5.0.5. The three were sitting in an alley, waiting for a good opportunity to begin looking

"Wait, what are we doing again?" Demencia had asked, sounding like a five year old in kindergarten.

Amazingly enough, Flug still had some composure. "We are to find and capture...someone for a client. Not kill, but capture."

Demencia decided to lay down on the floor. "That sounds so boring! You dragged me out here, and for what? A simple game of hide and seek?"

"Hey, it's not just that!" Flug shouted. All the while, 5.0.5 was just looking around the area, not paying attention to what his Dad was saying. He was looking at the clouds passing by.

Flug sighed, hoping that Demencia would listen, and realize how careful they must be. Extremely unlikely, but it was worth a shot. "Look, our client told us that she might put up a fight, so I'd like you to-"

Demencia sprang up as soon as she heard the word "fight."

She shoved Flug out of the way, and began to step out of the alley. "Oh what? Seriously! Why didn't you tell me this earlier Doc? Where is this target?"

"I don't know. That's why we still have to look for her," Flug told Demencia, now turning his attention to 5.0.5.

5.0.5 looked down at Flug. "And you will be covering Demencia if or when the target falls."

The bear, in response, let out a happy little, "Rawr!"

Flug smiled under the bag. He was glad that he'd done such a good job on raising 5.0.5. He looked at the two standing in front of him. "Alright, now that I'm done explaining everything, are we all ready to head out now?"

5.0.5 nodded his head, while Demencia slammed her fist against her palm and laughed. Flug turned around and the three all began to walk out of the alley, immediately on the lookout for a girl with brown hair, in overalls with a red backpack.

They all began to walk down the street, looking everywhere, and even asking around in some places. It appeared that no one knew who they were, so that gave the three a nice advantage.

Five minutes became 10, 10 became 20, then finally 30 minutes had passed, and there was still no sign of the girl. Demencia was getting bored, 5.0.5 was beginning to distract himself with things around him, and Flug was still on the look out.

Maybe it was a stroke of luck? Or maybe it was because the target had slipped up when moving from place to place. She either didn't think it through, or she was cocky, and found herself in the open without a crowd of people to surround her.

Flug was the first person to spot her. He was unsure if it was the target they were looking for. The description that the client gave fit this girl, but anyone in this city could be wearing overalls or have brown hair. Anyone could own a red backpack as well. The only thing to distinguish her was by her face. The client said the target had two scars. So if she just happened to turn around...

And she did. The target was looking over her shoulders, and she happened to see Flug, Demencia, and 5.0.5. Flug could see the scars from a mile away, and the target could see the insane looking ragtag group. She took a few steps back, still looking at them, then turned around. She took off running as fast as she could.

Flug shouted, “There she is!” and began running after her. Demencia’s face lit up and took off sprinting, while poor 5.0.5 could barely move at the speeds Flug and Demencia could. 

The target ran through a park and headed towards a forest. Demencia was on her scent, and slithered through the same park, scaring adults and children alike. Flug was quite a few steps behind, as he was helping 5.0.5 get a move on.

The target ran through a park and headed towards a forest. Demencia was on her scent, and slithered through the same park, scaring adults and children alike. Flug was quite a few steps behind, as he was helping 5.0.5 get a move on. "Come on, c'mon," he urged. "We have to get there before Demencia does!" he had shouted, giving up on leading the bear. Flug knew 5.0.5 would get there just fine. He's...smart. Mostly.

The target was sprinting through the forest, hoping that there would be a clearing eventually. She hated hiding, and would only do so if it was a last resort. There were trees all around her, so she could easily just slip away and hide.

Demencia stayed to thinking that she was just in a game of hide-and-seek, she was climbing up trees to find the hidden target. These distractions just gave her more time to run away.

Eventually, Flug and 5.0.5 managed to get into the forest, still not knowing where exactly Demencia had gone off to. While 5.0.5 sat down and looked at his surroundings, Flug gathered his thoughts and paced around in a small circle. 

How exactly was he going to capture the target if she just kept running? If she did put up a fight, would it be an easy one, or would she even manage to take down Demencia? Would he himself even have to try fighting the target? What if he just happened to misfire, what then? What would happen to the three of them if she got away?

“What would Blackhat do to us?” he thought. Flug had never known he would be playing the 20 questions game with himself.

Until that is, someone crash-landed onto him, and causing a sharp pain to jolt through his leg.

Disoriented, Flug started swinging at the attacker, but was met with resistance.

"Hey, hey! Doc relax, it’s just me Demencia!" the lizard lady shouted, blocking all of his pathetic punches.

Demencia hadn’t even crossed his mind until she fell out of a tree and landed on Flug. The impact onto him caused him to fall over. Under the bag, his face had twisted to an expression of pain and confusion. "Ow...what the hell Demencia! What on earth were you doing in the trees?" he yelled, trying to get himself back up.

Instead of helping Flug up, she dusted herself off to try and get rid of any dirt. "Well, I thought she would've tried hiding in the trees. Any human would've gotten tired from running for that long," she told Flug, matter-of-fact.

5.0.5 helped him up instead. Flug could still stand, but he had to put all of his weight into his right leg. He realized how great the task of running or walking would be. “Great, absolutely fantastic!” he thought to himself. “Guess I’m limping everywhere...”

He breathed in to regain his composure. "Look, we still don't know if what we're dealing with is human," he responded, losing his balance while taking another step.

She looked at him as if he were insane. "Are you kidding me? Did you not get a good look at her? That was obviously a human, Flug!"

The two began to argue over the species of the target. Bickering during missions was next to normal at this point. 5.0.5 had stood up from where he was sitting. He looked at the trees because he had heard a rustling sound in them.

Then their argument began to boil down to silly little things, like how Demencia should've checked every single tree if she was going to check them.

She should've checked them too, because then she would've spotted the target who was taking a quick breather, and to think of a way out of the situation she got herself into.

A branch snapped, and the target began to fall from a tall, tall tree. Flug had quickly yelled for Demencia to shut her mouth, and he began to grab a tranquilizer gun from out of his bag. He was ready to fire, but suddenly, there was a dark outline surrounding her. It was as if she was being compacted and squished into another form, and with a quick twist, something else had appeared. 

A bird. A raven to be exact. The target was no longer in the air, it was just this bird.

The raven was flapping its wings like crazy, and had managed to fly away after a few quick moments of panic. Flug lowered the weapon, and looked in awe as the bird flew away.

"What the..." he muttered under his breath. "Demencia! Demencia, follow that bird! Hurry, follow it!" he commanded, pointing in the direction he saw it fly away in.

The lizard, hoping to finally get the fight she had wanted, obeyed Flug and scampered off to find the raven. Flug, knowing full well that his leg was hurt, still proceeded to try and run. 5.0.5, seeing the crippled scientist, had picked him up under his arm. They had seen the general direction that Demencia had head off in. She had quite the head start, but they should find her eventually.

The raven had led Demencia to what was an open field full of wheat that was going to be used to make hay bales. Shortly before she had got there, the bird had plopped onto the grass. With another shadow and a quick twist, the intended target was back, sitting in the wheat field.

The target quickly stood up, and faced the woman standing before her. A wild grin spread across Demencia's face, as all of her hard work was now paid off, and she would be rewarded with finally having the long awaited fight.

The attention of the two was directed to a loud rustling sound coming from the forest. Out came 5.0.5 with a crippled Flug that looked like he might vomit. The doctor was carefully set down, and he was able to get a better look at the girl.

She was short, but still had a good build. She had a look of fear in her eyes, but knowing what just happened to her, it was expected.

Demencia's attention was redirected to the target. She began to run towards her, ready to attack.

The target quickly put her hands up, and another dark outline surrounded her. With another twist, the girl had vanished, and what appeared to be a fox had taken her place.

A deadly fight was bound to ensue. Flug concluded the target was both the bird and fox creature. He was also horrified and relieved—relieved to know the target was useful, and he would only have to tranquilize her to bring her back to Blackhat's mansion. He was terrified because he believed he was now dealing with something that might not even be human. Or something that Blackhat was going to abuse.

But here is the true point of the ball rolling down the hill, ready to crush anything in its path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Sorry if some parts were choppy or confusing. Next chapter should be posted at some point tomorrow. Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!
> 
> Note: Edited a sentence closer to the end so it lines up with how shapeshifting works.


	3. Trapped Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Fight scene in this chapter. Not many mentions of blood, but there are points where a character gets bitten, and another character gets shot by a tranquilizer gun.

Choices. So many choices for this still unknown target to make, yet such a small window of time to make sure that she would not die.

So many second guesses, and so many estimations. So many underestimations and overestimations made at the same time.

A fox with a red coat was in front of Demencia. It snarled, revealing its teeth. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to fight on something that can only move efficiently on four paws, but it would have to do for now.

The fox and Demencia charged towards each other, the fox with an open mouth, and Demencia slithering along the ground.

As soon as the fox was close enough to Demencia, its mouth closed around the closest limb, which was Demencia's right arm.

5.0.5 had covered his eyes with his paws, not wanting to look at the violence unfolding.

Flug meanwhile, was watching every single move and waves of emotions and thoughts hit him all at once, and he didn't know what to do. He thought about readying the tranquilizer and firing at the target, but he didn't want to risk hitting Demencia.

All that could be done was to watch in horror. 

Demencia had managed to pry the jaws of the fox off of her arm. She was bleeding, but she would just have to ignore it until she had finished the fight.

The fox had rolled a few feet away, and Demencia ran towards it, ready to bite the fox back, but there was no more fox.

Instead, it was the original target, on the floor. Demencia was confused, but proceeded to dive and tackle her. 

The target was pinned to floor, Demencia using her knees to keep the target’s hips on the ground; she put her hands on the target’s arms to make sure she couldn’t throw a punch.

Demencia did not take the target’s ability to shapeshift into account though. So, for the fifth time that day, the target had shadows envelop her being, and twisted herself into something the size of a small child.

With her size suddenly being smaller, Demencia’s grip had loosened, and the target had rolled out from under the lizard woman.

She quickly hopped up and shapeshifted yet again, back to being her normal self. Demencia sprang up from under the floor. “Hey, what are you doing?” she shouted at the target. She was beginning to get mad.

Demencia glared at the target “Are you fighting dirty now or something?”

The target had an unknown feeling growing inside of her. It was bubbling up inside of her. It wasn’t quite pain, but there were feelings of pure rage and desperation. It was like a different form of energy. Not exactly adrenaline, but maybe it was like a last burst of energy before she collapsed.

“What...this isn’t fighting dirty, it’s fighting smart!” the target exclaimed, stomping her foot.

The target began to approach Demencia, hands in fists, and began to taunt her. “If you really wanna fight dirty, then c’mon and-“

Demencia had growled, then ran towards the target, arms out like she was about strangle her. However, she left her torso wide open, and this gave the target a chance to fight, hand-to-hand.

She brought up leg to kick Demencia in the stomach, which shot the lizard woman back a few paces. The target tried kicking her shin, but this time, Demencia had grabbed her leg and twisted it, hoping to break it or pop something out of place.

The target proceeded to bend her other leg and brought it up to where Demencia was twisting the leg she had. She turned her entire body to try and loosen the grip of her opponent.

The sudden amount of weight onto Demencia had thrown her off balance, and she fell onto the ground. The target had forwards rolled towards her opponent, and had wrapped her arms around Demencia’s torso. 

She tried kicking and squirming her way out of the grasp of the target, but she would not let go. Quickly, she bent backwards, and made sure that her own head didn’t hit the ground, while she slammed her opponent’s into the ground.

Demencia hit the floor, body going limp. The impact onto the floor had knocked her out. It also would give her a nasty headache, a noticeable bruise, and a bad nosebleed.

With her first opponent on the floor, unconscious, she only had to fight one more person. She walked over to the dorky looking guy with the paper bag over his head. She wasn't counting the bear standing next to him. She couldn't just bring herself to fight him.

He's lanky and has disproportionately long legs. He's at least a foot taller than her, but she has more muscle.

However, this dorky looking fellow with a paper bag had a real weapon--a tranquilizer.

They both stared at each other, both standing completely still. The only noise that they could hear was their own breathing. It was quiet.

Then she saw the tranquilizer in Flug’s hands.

“Fuck,” she thought, and began to walk backwards away from him. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fucking shit.” she repeated in her mind. 

Realizing that she was backing away, he slowly walked towards her, finger resting on the trigger of the tranquilizer gun.

She couldn’t run because he would fire, and it would be pretty damn hard to dodge a dart. She couldn’t shapeshift because he would fire, and she wouldn’t be able to dodge the dart.

The target was trapped. But there was still a way out. A very risky idea, but worth a shot.

The paper bag he wore over his head. No one would wear a damn paper bag if they weren’t hiding a weakness. If she got close enough to him, she could rip it and it would probably distract him, leaving her time to run away.

The target still had no idea how she would pull this off. It was a vague idea, but how would she get that close to him would require a lot of subtlety and one quick shot. She continued to slowly shuffle backwards, waiting for her opportunity.

After a tense minute, a growl sounded to the left of them. In that split moment, when her attacker glanced just slightly to the noise, this was it. This is the only chance she’s got. She decided to take the plunge, arm darting for the bag, reaching for any scrap of paper, so close to her fingers -

She tripped.

It was the red backpack that she had thrown onto the floor. Inconspicuous. Something that slipped from her mind. But as she stepped on it, she stumbled and crashed into the floor.

Her attacker bent over to shoot. However, he was close enough for the her to sit up, reach her arm up, and...

She balled up a piece of the bag in her hand, and twisted ist. There was a ripping noise, and attacker yelped, covering his face with one hand and firing the tranquilizer with the other.

The dart hit the side of the target’s neck, and she fell unconscious. Flug didn’t know what to feel. Or he just didn’t want to feel anything. He tore the rest of the paper bag off of his head, and sighed. He wasn’t expecting that to happen.

Flug took off his goggles and replaced them with the glasses he had in his pocket. He put both the goggles and tranquilizer gun into the bag that he had on.

“5.0.5?” Flug asked the bear, glancing at the bear over his shoulder. “Would you mind picking up the target and her bag?”

The bear walked over to the target while Flug walked over to Demencia, who was coming to.

She was blinking to refocus her eyes. “Hey Doc, what hap-“ She saw Flug without the paper bag. That explained enough.

He extended his arm to Demencia and helped her up. “So that’s why you hide your face all the time, isn’t it?”

Flug completely avoided the subject of his face. “Look, let’s just get going back to the mansion, okay?”

————  
——

It was a silent drive in the getaway car. It was even more silent arrival at the mansion. The three didn’t get greeted by Blackhat, which was a good sign. Or he was waiting to “surprise” them somewhere else.

“Hey, Demencia?” Flug asked. She glanced over at the scientist. “Make sure to ice your head tonight, okay? There’s ice in the kitchen freezer. Just-“

“Ignore the bodies?” she commented, nudging at Blackhat’s strange eating habits. Flug smiled, and she walked away.

“5.0.5? Can you bring the target over to the lab? Put her bag on my desk, but strap her to one of the tables. Watch over her for me, I need to, uh…” he paused, unsure what to say.

Luckily, the bear understood what Flug meant and walked off, unconscious girl still in his arms.  
Flug was eerily calm. Or maybe he was just tired and wanted to give up. Or he was in a state where one single, small thing could set him off. He was in a dangerous mood, and a dangerous state of mind.

He limped off to his room to go find something for his leg, and get another paper bag over his head. As Flug opened the door to his room, he realized how strange it felt without that bag over his head. It's not that he felt protected with it on, it's just he felt so exposed without it. The mission was the first time Demencia had ever seen him without the bag on.

She saw the red burn scars--the scars that were on his chin, jaw, cheek, nose, and parts of his forehead. He got those when crashing into the mansion a few years ago. Demencia saw the scars going across one of his eyebrows, the one going across his lip, and the one going across his forehead. She saw his messy, brown hair, the freckles that could barely be seen. Demencia saw his eyes, blue and green. 

Despite all the marks on him, Flug really was a pretty boy, but he didn’t believe himself. It was because of his dumb brother. He always getting overshadowed by his asshole of an older brother. He didn't have to deal with him anymore, but he always crossed Flug's mind. That stupid little...

"Hurry up Flug..." he jeered, yelling at himself in his own head. "5.0.5's waiting for you in the lab, so get a move on dumbass.” He limped over to his closet and grabbed a paper bag. He quickly cut holes for his goggles, put said goggles on, and then put the paper bag over his head. He limped over to the lab.

5.0.5 was staring at the target, who was still unconscious. Flug glanced over at the table, her breathing was steady, so she wasn’t dead. She should’ve regained consciousness by now, so maybe she was just asleep? Or possibly in a coma.

“Hey, 5.0.5, you can leave now—have your free time for the day. Thanks for your help,” Flug stated. The bear nodded his head, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

He saw the bag laying on the table. He figured he would at least leave the girl some form of dignity by not pawing through her personal belongings. 

As Flug was leaving the room, he realized that he would have to lock the target in a separate room, knowing that she could just shapeshift and escape her bindings. He looked over at the spare utility closet in the room.

He struggled to push the table over to the closet, but eventually it made it there. He threw her bag in there, leaving her with at least one thing to have if did wake up. He closed the doors to the utility closet and found a padlock and locked the doors from the outside.

Flug decided to try and get some sleep. He was tired anyways, so it wasn’t like he would be wasting too much time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, uhh,,, chapter updates might not be daily since i only prepared 3 chapters in advance  
> (°ー°〃)  
> sorry about that  
> hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thanks for reading!


	4. One Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, sorry for the long wait between updates. hope you enjoy this chapter.  
> nothing unpleasant in this chapter, but probably some unpleasant things in the next chapter.

“W-well s-sir, the m-mission t-turned out…” Flug mumbled. Blackhat had summoned him to his office (in a back-breaking fashion) early that day. The day before, Blackhat had gone out to a small meeting concerning the next villain convention. It was normal for him to not saying anything to his employees before leaving, and it was normal to not say anything before coming back. He just liked to surprise them. It kept his employees (well, mostly Flug) on their toes, always looking over their shoulders. Such a wonderful feeling, fear.

Blackhat listened to Flug ramble on. He could barely understand him through that damned stutter. Flug spoke just fine normally to any clients, Demencia, 5.0.5, other villains—just not Blackhat. The eldritch horror did appreciate it, knowing that his scientist was still completely terrified of him, but it was quite annoying.

“Just get it out already Flug!” Blackhat spat at his employee.

Flug yelped. “J-just f-follow me d-down to the l-lab, s-sir.” He began to walk out of the room, and Blackhat followed behind him.

The scientist slowly opened the doors to his lab, unsure if the target had managed to escape the utility closet. Everything was fine, so with a sigh of relief, he walked over to the back of the room.

“S-sir, I-I’d like to w-warn you. S-she might b-be a l-little a-aggressive,” Flug advised.

“Oh, just hurry up already!” Blackhat barked to his scientist.

Flug yelped, and he quickly grabbed the keys from his pocket to unlock the padlock. Apprehensively, he unlocked it, and it pinged open. As the padlock fell to the floor, one of the doors on the utility closet flew open, and the target darted outside and sat in a corner, one close to Flug. She looked up at Blackhat and the man with the paper bag over his head.

Blackhat chuckled. “Hah. Real feisty, isn’t she Doctor.”

“W-well, s-she was y-yesterday s-sir. She used s-some…w-well, questionable f-fighting m-methods when s-she fought against D-Demencia,” Flug commented.

The girl stood up from where she was sitting. “Hey! I wasn’t using ‘questionable methods,’” she argued. “It’s fighting smart, not dirty, if that’s what you were implying.”

Blackhat looked at the girl curiously. “What exactly did she do Flug?” he asked, not looking away.

Flug cleared his throat. “I-I d-do believe…no, I-‘m s-sure she’s a-a s-shapeshifter.”

The girl in the corner nodded her head, confirming Flug’s statement. Intrigued of this girl’s ability, Blackhat directly spoke to this girl. “In exchange for your life miss, I would like to offer you a job.”

A million questions began to flood through the girl’s head. “What…work?“ she asked aloud.

Out of thin air, Blackhat had produced a contract in one hand, and a fountain pen into the other. “I am Lord Blackhat, one of the top villains in this entire pathetic world. I created and I currently run Blackhat Corporation, a weapons dealer. Not only that, but we also assist other villains across the world, which is how you ended up here. I will…gladly answer some of your questions as soon as you sign this contract of working terms and conditions. And please remember—your life is at stake here. My scientist didn’t have to save your meaningless life, and if you refuse work here, I will—“

“I’ll do it,” she stated, walking over to Blackhat and taking the pen from his hand. 

Flug stared over at the girl in horror. She hadn’t even asked about what she would be doing, or a rooming situation and she never mentioned or asked what her pay would be. But perhaps this girl was human, and needed her life; it was extremely likely she feared how nonchalantly Blackhat threw death threats around.

She quickly signed the contract, leaving a sloppy, yet still legible cursive signature. Flug saw the girl’s name in cursive on the contract. “Sylvia I.P Grey.” Her name was familiar for some reason.

“Alister Grey…” he thought. “Sylvia Grey…perhaps they’re related?” He decided not to ask, it would be rude, and Flug figured she would get a barrage of questions later.

Blackhat took the pen and contract from Sylvia’s hands. He rolled up the contract and it vanished. He began to explain to her what she would be getting for working with him. “Miss Grey, you will be getting your own room—I’ll have him take you there later,” he told her, grabbing Flug’s shoulder. “You will be able to have your own food and your own clothing. You will be getting a nice paycheck for your work with Blackhat Co., and you will be working with him for the time being. Eventually, you will be able to go on missions for the company.”

Sylvia nodded her head in response. “I’ll be taking my leave now,” Blackhat addressed to the new employee and Flug. “You two may spend your day however you’d like, as I do not have anything planned for either of you. I’m going to be observing your tasks for tomorrow.” Blackhat walked out of the room, leaving the lab doors open. Flug and Sylvia stared at each other again, but in a more relaxed environment and with less stakes.

Flug broke the silence between the two of them. “I suppose I should introduce myself…I’m Doctor Flugslys, but you can just call me Kenning if you want to.”

Sylvia froze in place, staring at Flug with a terrified look in her eyes. The man was confused; how was she scared of him but not batting an eyelash at Blackhat? Well maybe she wasn’t scared of HIM per se, but maybe the severity of the situation finally hit her? Or she was just shutting down. But why? Her job hadn’t even started yet.

The girl quietly spoke to Flug. “I think I’ll call you Slys…” she mumbled. “And my name’s Sylvia by the way."

Flug—err—Slys couldn’t help but smile under the bag. Sylvia seemed nice enough, but that could just be the terror in her talking. He assumed he would be doing most of the talking, and she would probably just listen or ask questions.

“Look, I have to do some morning routine stuff first,” Slys told her. “You can wander around the place if you want, just don’t touch anything. And don’t go into Blackhat’s office or my room please.” Sylvia nodded her head in response, and walked out of the room. Barely five seconds had passed, and there was a loud “thwack” noise, along with a quick, muffled scream.

Slys put down the clipboard in his hands and ran out of the lab to see what had happened, and he found Demencia had tackled and pinned Sylvia to the floor. “Ugh, Demencia!” he shrieked. “Get off of her!”

Without loosening her grip, Demencia glared at Slys. “Hey, I’m just protecting this household by not letting this thing go farther than the lab!” she argued.

“She’s not a ‘thing’ Demencia, her name’s Sylvia,” he started, emphasizing her name. “She works with us now.”

“Aw, what!” she shouted, letting go of Sylvia. Demencia extended her arm to her, and helped her off the floor. “Sorry about that, but now we’re even,” she told Sylvia, a wicked grin forming on her face.

“What?” Sylvia asked, confused. She looked over at Slys for an answer, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

“You tackled me yesterday, and I just tackled you. See? We’re even!” she joked, bursting out into laughter. Sylvia gave Demencia a weird look, and again, looked over at Slys. He put his arms up to signify he truly does not understand the actions of his co-worker, and to just go with her strange tendencies.

She focused her attention to Slys. “Look nerd-brain,” she smirked. "I’ll give the girl the tour of the place while you do your morning routine stuff.”

Demencia had already walked away before he could argue, and she was off to give a very…questionable tour of Blackhat’s mansion.

The two were going on a walk through the hallways of their boss's mansion. “Sorry about him, he’s a little too…” Demencia paused, unable to find the right words to describe her co-worker.

“Dorky?” Sylvia commented.

“Yes! Dorky!” Demencia exclaimed. “I recommend you stay away from him and hang around me. I promise you I’ll be way more fun and helpful than that dork’ll ever be…”

“Oh—well—Blackhat said I would be would be working with him for the time being,” she responded, unsure of the lizard woman’s opinion of Slys.

Demencia stopped walking and stared at Sylvia, and very seriously told her, “The only reason why you’re working with Flug, and not with me is because Blackhat wants him to experiment on you. You are a shapeshifter after all, so they’ll really push you to your limits. It happened to me too.” She had a dead stare on her face after speaking to her, leaving an uncomfortable period of silence.

Sylvia stood there, awkwardly shifting from toe to toe, still staring at Demencia. She appeared to be frozen in place, as if mentioning experimentation brought back some major flashbacks. Sylvia just stepped around the still-standing girl, and continued to walk off to figure out locations in the mansion. Demencia turned around and noticed the new girl had left and shouted, “Hey! Wait up!"

=======  
===

Through the tour that barely made any coherent sense, Sylvia had learned quite a lot.

She learned locations—she found out her room would be next to Slys’s room, and Slys roomed with one of his creations, 5.0.5. She would be sharing a bathroom with the two of them. Sylvia also learned that Demencia slept in a pod in a different part of the lab. She knew Blackhat’s room and office should never be entered because, “I only recommend going in if you want to die,” according to Lord Blackhat himself. She found out there were rooms underneath the house for getaway vehicles and weapon storage. She also found out half of the kitchen was dedicated to their boss’s strange diet, with freezers full of…disgusting things, indescribable things! Things that made poor Sylvia vomit into the sink. There were plenty of other rooms in the mansion Demencia had told the new employee. The viewing room was going to be one of her next stops. Or her own personal room.

She learned about her co-workers—She found out from Demencia that Blackhat was this strange, demonic being. He had all this power over all villains, so that’s probably why he was one of the greatest villains in the world. He found out he “claimed” all of his workers—most demons do at least. Blackhat claimed both Demencia and Slys by clawing them. Sylvia learned Demencia had this…strange infatuation for their boss. Her co-worker was also insane and extremely destructive. She also hated Slys for some unknown reason. 5.0.5 was a failed experiment and Slys considered him as his son. Sylvia still had a lot to learn about him. She had to relearn some things yes, but that’s what everyone has to do when they’re not around someone for a long time.

She even learned fun facts about the place. Like how the mansion was shielded by an illusion. When close, the mansion looked like a top hat with a plane stuck in the side of it. When far away however, the mansion looked like a spooky, and creepy old manor stuck in the middle of a forest. They were actually near a neighborhood though, one across a river and a bridge.

After their tour around the place, Sylvia had wandered back to her room. She opened the doors, and looked around. Amazingly enough, it was exactly like her old room from when she still lived in a home. The grey walls, the white plush floors and the rug with the rose design. The black bed frame with the dark blue blanket set and the white pillows near the door. The black, wooden nightstand with the black lamp next to the bed. Her desk and chair was shoved into the far right corner along with a bookcase next to it. The books inside were comic books, manga, old textbooks, old notebooks, and various trinkets mixed with junk. Sylvia glanced at the closet doors from where she was kneeling in front of the bookcase. If it was exactly like her old room…

She walked over and pulled the doors open. She was amazed. Exactly like she remembered leaving it all those years ago. Some nicer clothes on hangers, everyday clothes folded and set on shelves, shoes on the floor of it. On the top shelves were boxes of memorabilia, music instruments and an electric piano. The only thing she didn’t remember was the mini fridge on the floor. She stepped out of the closet and began looking around the room, looking around for the smallest details to see if it truly was an exact duplicate.

“Shocking, isn’t it,” she heard. Sylvia turned around to see Slys standing in the entrance of her new room. He was holding her bag in one hand, and what appeared to be a striped jumpsuit in the other hand.

“It was like that for me when I first got here. I just don’t know how it happens, but I think it has something to do with the contracts he made us sign. It’s like he can…” he paused, failing to find the right words to describe one of Blackhat’s talents.

“Blackhat can see into our lives with that contract?” she responded, unsure if her words fit what he was thinking.

“Yes, precisely.” Slys commented. “I suspect he can see even more once he claims you. It’s like he has full control over your soul…” he paused, staring at Sylvia.

“Hey, you can come in if you want,” she said, noticing how he was just standing outside the room.

He stepped into the room, and walked over to her desk. “Thank you,” Slys told her, setting down the bag and jumpsuit onto it. “You left my bag in the lab—thought I’d bring it over for you. Please wear the jumpsuit and any basic shoes for the tasks tomorrow, and come to my lab first thing in the morning. I’ll have 5.0.5 wake you up.”

Sylvia nodded her head, and muttered a simple, “Thank you.”

He nodded his head and began to walk out of the room. But not before telling her, “Oh—and tell me if that mini fridge needs to be restocked and if you need to do Also, I would recommend keeping your bedroom door closed in this place.”

With that, the scientist had left the room, leaving Sylvia alone. She peeked outside her room before closing the doors, and no one was there. She walked over to where Slys had set down her bag and the jumpsuit. Everything in the bag had remained untouched, undamaged. It was a very good thing, as she had valuable stuff inside of it. She glanced over at the jumpsuit. It gave her prison vibes.

She took out the contents of her bag and placed them on her desk. There were books, notebooks, pencil cases, her nearly dead phone, her laptop, various nintendo related products, numerous chargers…a lot of stuff. She threw her bag into the closet and neatly organized the contents of the bag into the drawer of her nightstand. She found an outlet on the wall and put her charger in and charged her phone.

She checked all the notifications she had missed. Not a lot. Well, nothing really, and 10 different texts.

“Texts?” she had asked herself. Sylvia never really got any texts. Mostly because everyone she had known thought she was dead.

It was from her boss and her three co-workers. She could tell who was who by what they said to her.

“You better not mess up your first real work day tomorrow, Miss Grey. You’ll regret that. but it’ll be lots of fun for me. This number is strictly for business, and if you contact me outside of business you will doubly regret that.”

“Hey Sylvia, it’s me, Dr. Flug. Blackhat requires all workers to have contact with each other. Just don’t ask how I managed to get your number. Please don’t. Please don’t get mad at me too.”

“so, uh”  
“boys, amirite?”  
“aren’t they uh cool?”

“Fdfjaiorhguisnvais”  
“Heutpdsngfsado;l’a”  
“Bwarul;f”  
“Sorry about that, 5.0.5 cannot really text as he doesn’t have any opposable thumbs. But he told me to text you he is very excited to be working with you and is excited to meet you. He also apologizes for anything that had happened yesterday.”  
“By the way, it’s me Dr. Flug again.”

As she set her phone down on the top of the nightstand. She flopped back onto her bed. The familiar feeling of it was comforting, but she was in an unfamiliar place, an unfamiliar area.

What was she supposed to expect working for this place? Was everything just spontaneous? Everything was just made and created on the fly? If that’s what Sylvia had to expect, she was unsure how to feel. She was good at coming up with stuff on the spot, but she would never be able to form a routine.

But there was also a chance everything would be the same, everyday. Every single day. Nothing changing. Everything would be so boring, so bland.

Maybe the unexpected was supposed to be expected. After all, there is a chance for anything to happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk how long it'll take me to write chapter 5, hopefully not too long  
> hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thank you for reading.  
> Very much a work in progress.


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